AVG unveils global Community Powered Threat Report — Q2-2011

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, the distributor of the award-winning AVG Internet and mobile security software in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, has announced the release of AVG Technologies' "AVG Community Powered Threat Report - Q2 2011", providing insight, background and analysis on the trends and developments in the global threat landscape.

'Trusted malware'

The report unearths how 'trusted malware' is continuing to grow at an alarming rate. In Q2, AVG's Threat Labs have seen an increase in the number of stolen digital certificates used to sign malware, before being distributed by hackers. A significant increase of over 300% was identified at the start of 2011 compared to the whole of 2010. The practice of trusting signed files is rapidly losing its strength.

Mac attack

As Macs continue to rise in popularity, they are increasingly becoming the latest victims of cyber crime, the report reveals. With the platform reaching crucial market share levels, it is starting to appear on the radar of cyber criminals. While it may be a new target platform, cyber criminals are using tried and tested social engineering techniques to attack Mac OS users.

Mobile malware

Increasingly, cyber crooks are using mobile malware to monetise using premium SMS and fake apps. Monetising techniques via mobile are much easier to operate than those in use on PCs. By spamming users to download apps or simply posting them on download stores or markets, the software distribution is easy and scalable.

An eye on SpyEye

The report provides insight into the most prevalent malware targeting online banking in the past few years - SpyEye. The rise in SpyEye means that users of Internet banking need to be extra vigilant, especially as victims of cyber attacks are increasingly considered to be accountable.

A recent court ruling in the US concluded that it was in fact the victim's responsibility to protect their account credentials, rather than the bank - namely via the use of Internet security and identity protection tools.

In the first half of 2011 the AVG Threat Labs investigated the operation of 702 Command and Control servers (C&C). The research results match the geo location of the servers as well as the popularity of the various malware versions in use by each C&C. The US holds the lead in Command and Control servers with 30% of the market share, followed by Ukraine with 22%.Brazil

The United States still remains the dominant source of spam with English as the main language used in spam messages, followed by the UK with Brazil only just coming third. However, Brazil is rapidly closing that gap and is on course to overtake the UK, likely in the next quarter.

World Wild Web

"In Q2 cyber criminals have clearly been shifting their focus to new markets, with a clear goal on increasing revenue from their operations," said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, Chief Technology Officer, AVG Technologies.

"The World Wide Web might as well be re-branded as the World Wild Web. Our research indicates that hundreds of live servers operating all around the world are active 24/7 to steal users' credentials for online banking and other private assets. As attack techniques of hackers continue to get more advanced, users need to take action. Security products, with multi-layers of protection, are a must have to protect against the potentially damaging threats that lurk on the web. The user's computer platform is becoming irrelevant for these cyber criminals - Windows, Android, Mac and iOS are all targeted now."

Other key findings include:

11.3% of malware are using external hardware devices (e.g. flash drives) as a distribution method (AutoRun)

Blackhole remains the most prevalent exploit toolkit in the wild, accounting for 75.83% of toolkits

Exploit Toolkits are responsible for 37% of all threat activity

32.9% of Spam messages originated from the USA followed by the United Kingdom with 3.9%

About the report

The AVG report is based on the Community Protection Network traffic and data followed by research from AVG, over a three-month period. It provides an overview of web, mobile devices, spam risks and threats.

The statistics referenced are obtained from the AVG Community Protection Network, which is an online neighbourhood watch, helping everyone in the community to protect each other. Information about the latest threats is collected from customers who choose to participate in the product improvement program and shared with the community to make sure everyone receives the best possible protection.

With more than 110 million users using AVG's various solutions, AVG provides powerful community protection. Each new user who chooses to participate increases the security level of the community as a whole.

AVG is focused on building communities that help multiple-millions of online participants support each other on computer security issues and actively contribute to AVG's research efforts.